


Fools rush in

by ferggirl



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:12:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferggirl/pseuds/ferggirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melinda confronts herself and her carefully guarded emotions after the failed mission in 1.10.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fools rush in

Melinda May is no fool. The last person to assume she was had died painfully.

She has had other sexual relationships while in the field. Givens, the darkly handsome head of SciOps in Asia. Lawrence, whose high profile position as head of Internal Affairs had led to some very odd meeting places. Hanna, the one and only time she’d slept with a SEAL. Smyth, the brash young tech officer who just couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

They’d ended because it was time. Because one of them got reassigned or awkward feelings developed. Or in Smyth’s case, because she’d done something stupidly heroic and gotten herself killed for it.

That still angered her, all these years later.

So when Ward had stepped up to take that punch she’d seen red.

There are enough bodies on her conscience, and one Greta Smyth is plenty.

She’d gone in hot.

His denial, his disbelief had both reassured and hurt her. She doesn’t want anyone to die for her.

But does she want him to care that badly?

It’s been eating at her, weighing on her mind as she goes through the post-op motions.

Peterson’s son needs to be sent home.

HQ has to be informed of the outcome.

The team needs a new official lead.

They haven’t found any bodies.

And the whole time, it bothers her. Burns at her. Is she really so foolish as to want Grant Ward to fall in love with her?

She doesn’t love him.

There’s a fondness, an appreciation. He’s a good agent, a good teammate, and nearly as good as she is in bed. But he’s so young. She finds herself mentally patting him on the head from time to time.

So why is she hurt that he is on the same page?

She worries, as she paces Coulson’s office and waits for orders. Worries that it’s arrogance. Nostalgia for a time when she had known half her team was in love with her. When she’d flirted back, accepted the attention as her due. She’d been the best. Of course they’d fallen for her.

But she’s come a long way from that reckless, open young woman. She’s stronger now, more tempered, more balanced. She had offered Ward a release that she’d needed too, and when that release becomes an obligation, she’ll end it.

Because she doesn’t want more from him.

Because he doesn’t need more from her.

Because she watches his eyes track Simmons around the lab, and sees the way he’s tuned to the young scientist’s frequency.

Givens had looked like that, once, when she found him arguing heatedly with his chief chemist. They are married now, living in Moscow.

Smyth had looked at her like that, and she’d run scared.

She likes Ward, and she’ll need him to help her lead the team, to undo whatever Mike has done.

But her foolish pride has clearly gotten too used to his admiration.

And Melinda May does not suffer fools.


End file.
